OWENSBORO, Ky. (5/3/13) – Prep work for painting the Ky. Hwy. 2262 Ohio River “Blue Bridge” in downtown Owensboro continues with overnight closures of the bridge. This week overnight closures will resume Monday night, May 6, and continue through Thursday night into Friday morning, May 10.

Again, an overnight closure isn’t scheduled on Sunday night this weekend, but there will be overnight closures starting Monday night.

The contractor plans overnight closures of the Blue Bridge from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. Monday through Thursday, for rigging work needed to secure containment tarps that will go up for the main cleaning and painting work that is expected to close the bridge to all traffic starting May 13.

The Blue Bridge in downtown Owensboro – formally called the Glover Cary Bridge and the KY 2262 Ohio River Bridge– will be open to normal traffic flow with no lane restrictions the weekend of Owensboro's International Bar-B-Q Festival, May 10 and 11.

The painting contract calls for the bridge to be closed to all traffic from about May 13 through Nov. 15.

Spartan Contracting, LLC, of Ohio, is the prime contractor on the $10,070,000 painting project, which is jointly funded by Kentucky and Indiana.

During the Monday through Thursday 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. overnight closures this week, farmers should continue contacting the Owensboro Police Department to make arrangements for farm equipment to cross during hours that the bridge is open.

Once the Blue Bridge is closed to all traffic on May 13, a detour via the U.S 231 William Natcher Bridge over the Ohio River upstream from Owensboro will add about 10 miles to a trip from Reo, Ind., to downtown Owensboro.

The Blue Bridge is 4,622 feet long. It connects Ky. Hwy. 2262 and Indiana State Route 161 over the Ohio River at Owensboro. Approximately 8,500 vehicles cross the Ohio River on the Blue Bridge between Kentucky and Indiana in an average day. Trucks normally account for about 15 percent of that traffic. The structure opened to traffic in September 1940 as a toll bridge. Tolls were discontinued in 1954.

Timely traffic advisories for the 11 counties of KYTC Highway District 2 and the Blue Bridge painting project are available by going to www.facebook.com/kytcdistrict2. You do not have to be a Facebook member to access this page.